Associated is to keep MediaVest

MediaVest has retained the &£27m Associated Newspapers’ media planning and buying account, following a three-way pitch.

The agency pitched against Walker Media and the Allmond Partnership after Associated Newspapers called a statutory review in June.

MediaVest has held the centralised media account for Associated Newspapers – which owns the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, the Evening Standard and the Metro series of free dailies – since 1997.

The news will be a relief to MediaVest following Barclays’ decision to review its &£22m media planning and buying account, which MediaVest has held for the past five years. Barclays appointed its sister agency, Starcom Motive to handle the account.

Metro managing director Mike Anderson, with the marketing teams on other newspaper brands, oversaw the pitch process.

Associated Newspapers is expected to respond to the increased marketing muscle of Express Newspapers. Richard Desmond’s company Northern & Shell bought the Express group last year and increased its media spend. It is understood Associated Newspapers will increase its media spend in a bid to consolidate the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday’s positions as the leading mid-market tabloids.

In June, the Evening Standard appointed its first marketing director, handing the job to former Bhs marketing chief, Jane Hayman.